Fertile Ground
by Shadow Padawan
Summary: Ficklet.Severus gets a chance to develop some of his talents at the Dark Lord's Lab.


**Title: **Fertile Ground  
><strong>Author:<strong> Shadow Padawan  
><strong>Characters: <strong>Severus-centric  
><strong>Rating: <strong>PG  
><strong>Word Count: <strong>846  
><strong>Summary: <strong>Severus gets a chance to develop some of his talents at the Dark Lord's Lab.  
><strong><br>**

* * *

><p>"I thought I was going to be part of the Young Guard?"<p>

Antonin rolled his eyes at the boy who strolled at his side down the dim hallway leading up to the lab. "You are in the Young Guard," Antonin said patiently. He and Severus didn't quite get along with each other since the start. Antonin told himself that it wasn't the boy's impudent manner or even his overdramatic sense of style and certainly not his heritage, but he knew that all those factors played into it.

"Then why am I being transferred to Lab?"

"You're not being transferred, you're being borrowed."

Snape seemed to consider this for a moment. "Is this because I'm a half-blood?" he asked, stopping dead in front of the closed double doors and facing Antonin with a mixture of discomfort and annoyance on his face.

Antonin sighed and folded his arms. "Mr. Snape, we teach half-bloods as eagerly as Purebloods. This has nothing to do with that. You are still in the battle group, but some of you lot have specific talents that the Organization could utilize. As I said, you're not being transferred, just borrowed." When Snape still looked suspicious, Antonin added, "Ashley Mulciber is going through similar assistant-training under his brother with the medics."

Finally, Severus seemed to relax. "Alright. I just want to fight. I'm good at it."

"You'll get to fight. Don't look so downcast, you'll like it here." Antonin pushed open the double-doors and brought Severus into the first large chamber beyond.

As Severus found out, the Lab had several sections. Firstly, there was the potions brewing chamber, equipped at the highest level. Severus gaped longingly at the assorted, rare ingredients lining the shelves. Secondly, there was the development room. This was smaller and looked like a cross-breed between a library and a classroom, except with three long tables set up with various equipment instead of rows of desks. This was where the initial research and calculations for the new potions and curses were done and theory was developed. Next, there were two experiment rooms. One was equipped for test running curses with a glass polygon set up in the middle, the sides of the rooms protected by the tall, thick glass and various shielding wards. The other had raised watching platforms, also protected by wards, with the testing ground below. This was better for running offensive potion drills or necromancy rituals.

"Still protesting being borrowed?" Dolohov asked Severus at the end of the tour. The boy, wide-eyed, now shook his head. "What? Did you think the Lord's Lab was some shabby hole in a wall?"

Snape shook his head quickly. "No, I just…I don't know. I still want to be part of the squad but…can I come here?"

Antonin gave him a careful look. "Not on your own, at least not until you've complete your assistant-training. Also, procedure will require you to have a spotter unless you're working strictly on theory."

Severus nodded. "When do I start?"

"In…half and hour. Karkaroff and Voskresenski will be here and they will give you more specifics."

*

Severus didn't mind getting borrowed at all very soon. Part of him wouldn't have even minded a transfer. He spent most of his free time out of Hogwarts or whenever he could get down to Headquarters in the potions room. There was almost always someone who could spot him, at least during the day. He brewed and helped develop offensive potions, learned how to interwork curses with potions and learned a hell of a lot more about Spell Development Theory than he could have possibly done even in the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts library.

His first spells were insignificant, although _Lavicorpus_ gained some popularity. Some unwanted popularity back at school as well, but that was simply an unfortunate side effect.

In the middle of his sixth year at Hogwarts, half a year after he'd been transferred to the main forces and had less time for the Lab than in his Academy days, Severus finally came up with something truly worthwhile.

"Sec-tum-semp-ra," Ivan Voskresenski read, sounding out the new spell. He flipped through Severus' notes then handed them back to him. "What does it do?"

"It…can I show you?" Severus walked into the trial cube and glanced back at Ivan who watched him from behind the glass. Severus conjured up a Simulation. The fake-human tittered slightly, rocking back and forth, his empty eyes staring past Severus. "_Sectumsempra_!" Snape cast. The thin streak of light hit the Simulation in the chest. Hundreds of long, intersecting cuts instantly appeared on the figure's torso and it toppled over.

"Are those easily mended?" Ivan asked as Severus obliterated the Simulation.

"No," he replied. "I suppose some of the more advanced healing spells could deal with them but it's best to use the countercurse."

"You have a countercurse?"

"It's…in progress." Severus walked back out of the testing area. "What do you think?"

"Let me see those notes again?" Ivan reached for Severus' papers. "You should show this to Igor and maybe Antonin. We could use this." 


End file.
